How Many - Part 1

 

 

When I bought my studio in a small village in Southern France there were seven bakeries. That was 1989.

Walking the dog before sunrise, fresh baked bread smells hung over the village. Think of a cartoon where a beautiful aroma entangles the main character with a delicate and curly smoke and the character dances off into happiness.

That was in the late 1980s.

As of today we are down to two bakeries (boulangeries) in the main village. There is still a delicate smell of baking bread but faint.

Locals and tourists still go out for their morning bread fresh from the oven but for how long before we will have to get in the car and drive out to the zone artisonale where the bakeries are supplied by factories that may or may not stick to traditional ingredients? 

UNESCO has registered the baguette on the Intangible Heritage Cultural Lists.

In 1970 there were 55,000 bakeries. Now there are 30,000 with  some 400 disappearing each year.

This morning my husband brought me a croissant still warm from the oven. Tomorrow morning is when we go to a cafe tfor a ten-minute free write. my husband, my friend and meet. She drinks espresso, he drinks hot chocolate and I drink tea. We want to have croissants or even divide a baguette with butter and jam or honey from a local bee keeper.